


Stories of the Second Self: The Fallen Son

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [99]
Category: Police - Fandom, Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:34:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22612621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: He did it. Daniel Yi, having had enough of the wings, scheduled the procedure to have them amputated. However, waking up the day after, Daniel is stricken with nausea and burn sensations where the wings used to be. Even after the wounds close, Daniel is clinically diagnosed with depression and restricted from driving on duty or off. However, he cannot be human again, and his angelic condition has one more unpleasant surprise for him.
Series: Alter Idem [99]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: The Fallen Son

In the locker room Daniel Yi reached up to his shoulders to unbutton the seams running from his collar to his sleeves. That was the way all his shirts were in order to put them on with full size wings. Then, he looked around to be sure no one else was in view, before he pulled his shirt down to his ankles and kicked it off. It felt emasculating, like slipping off a skirt.

"One more goddamn day," Daniel muttered to himself, as he reached for his uniform shirt.

It also had shoulder buttons, which Daniel had to float the bill himself to have modified. Next, Daniel switched his pants and shoes, buttoning up the front of his shirt and tucking it in, before putting on his trauma plate. By the time he was ready to report to the morning briefing, he heard someone stop at the locker room doorway.

"Daniel," Patrolman Specialist Chaney addressed him. "Cap wants a word with you before we go out."

"Yeah, thanks," Daniel replied, and then closed his locker before leaving.

At their morning briefing, officers were assigned their beat numbers and were dismissed. However, as Yi and Chaney headed out they parted ways, Chaney going toward the supply room before getting the car. Yi went to the captain's office and knocked.

"Come in," Captain Reigns answered.

Reigns, a Fae elder, had a faint purple hue to his medium brown skin tone. Both his parents remained human after Alter Idem, but with a black mother, Reigns wasn't quite afforded the social respect that the Fae caste system otherwise granted. When he gradually changed, many in the department started calling him Lieutenant Rudolf, before his promotion that was. It was for the obvious reindeer reference, though Yi never used the nickname.

"You wanted to see me, captain?" Yi asked, and sat as permitted with a gesture.

"Your watch sergeant and patrol lieutenant sent me your medical leave request," Reigns said, "While it's unusual for what counts as a cosmetic surgery, I'll approve it. Just I wanted to talk to you first."

"Yeah, I know they're bullet resistant and all that," Yi began, pretty sure he knew where this was going. "I'm tired of the stares."

"You don't like being seen as a fallen angel of Satan's legion?" Reigns asked.

"Actually," Yi paused to reach across and scratch his forehead. "That could be useful, but no. What I hate is the fuckin' righteousness people hurl at me for it. Sorry 'bout the language."

"Nah, it's alright," Reigns dismissed, "We get the whole religious narrative too. People keep insisting that we have horns. At least I know how the mormons feel now. Though, you have to know the FAA won't clear you to fly after you recover."

"No angel pilot trusts their instruments," Daniel recalled from an FAA study he read. "I know, cap."

"I'm hearing around the station that your mother was deeply religious," Reigns observed with a consoling tone. It must have been hard to lose her, atop going through this."

"I wasn't sure about god or souls before," Daniel explained, "But after, seeing her get the wrong miracle, I walked away from faith clean," then Daniel shook his head slowly with an absent face. "The one thing angels aren't handed are healing powers. Ain't that a bitch?"

"The psyche department at the University of Cincinnati released a survey conducted among Pentacastes." Reigns shifted the subject. “Wanna know what they found out about angels?"

"Law, Light, Convention, and Certainty," Yi recited off of a meme made popular three years ago.

"Well, you're a cop, so the law's covered," Reigns started to list with a smirk. "Light? Guess that's literal in your case and not so much on the religion angle. Convention; you wanna fit in-- among humans, that is. Certainty. You're sure you want to do this?"

"As sure as I know there are no gods," Yi declared, unconsciously straightening up.

"Okay," Reigns accepted, and rose from his desk with his hand out. "Hope it goes smooth, and get well soon. You're a good officer."

"Thanks captain," Yi replied, standing and shaking Reign's hand.

Yi's shift was largely uneventful, that meaning he and Chaney dealt with suspected street pack activity, a couple domestic dispute cases, and an old man complaining about a lawn party of Fae, angels, and humans.

After, Daniel switched back to civilian clothes and left the station on his motorcycle. When learning that the University of Cincinnati Medical Center was certified to do the procedure, he scheduled the earliest appointment possible, and inadvertently became the first known angel in the state of Ohio to have his wings removed.

No one was fully sure what the side effects would be.

Having already spoken to several counselors, surgeons, and the university hospital's legal department, Daniel then signed the waivers and permission forms, all save one. Through it all, his resolve wasn't shaken in the slightest. He was done with the light-bendy effect, the halo when the sunlight hit his feathers just right, and the gawking he got from whoever around him was prone to angelic awe. Also, he desired wearing normal shirts again.

Daniel went to the patient admittance entrance, checked in, given patient clothes, assigned a room, and counted down the hours. His surgical team arrived to verify for the final time that he wanted to go through with it, and handed over the clipboard and form requiring his last signature. Then, he was moved to a bed and prepped for surgery and rolled to the operating theater. When the anesthesia kicked in, he felt like a collection of cinder blocks in human form.

The first thing Daniel became aware of was a ray of sunlight from the side. However, still half asleep, Daniel dreamed of being stuck in a hole that, while shallow, was wide and for some reason impossible for him to climb out from. Fearful of being trapped, Daniel opened his eyes to find a blurry version of his hospital room.

A faint burning sensation accompanied the raw soreness on the backside of his shoulders in an area doctors called the Posterior Acromion, as opposed to the Anterior Acromion, where his arms connected. Not feeling the weight of his wings, Daniel tried to reach up across his chest to touch both locations.

They were gone.

In their place, a wave of nausea hit Daniel like an acidic tide from his stomach on up. He rolled to one side and retched out onto the side of the bed and the floor. Daniel never felt so sick before, and it didn't stop even after he'd emptied his stomach.

He didn't hear the door open, but Daniel felt hands reaching under his armpits from the front to hold him from falling out of the bed.

"Okay, just let it happen," came a woman's voice. "We'll get you new sheets and get this cleaned up."

Without warning, Daniel went through it again, though it didn't last so long this time, and there was nothing left to throw up. The burning in his shoulders intensified, and throbbing made him hyper-aware of where every staple and stitch passed through his flesh.

Bedridden for the entire time it took for the cuts to close, the throbbing refused to subside, even with pain medication. Daniel's shoulders hurt so bad he couldn't use his arms, lest he aggravate the agony anew, as though some ethereal wrath were punishing him.

Nighttime Affective Disorder, which he already experienced like most angels, became night terrors, as though he were a toddler again. Always, he was either chained so tight he couldn't move, or stuck in some undefined abyss with the light ever out of reach, yet close enough to taunt him all the more.

Three weeks post-op, and things medically settled down, though Daniel found himself lacking will or enthusiasm. In his head, he knew it still was what he wanted, and so he couldn't fathom why he should be so down that life itself seemed too much to deal with. A hospital psychiatrist cleared that up with a diagnosis of clinical depression.

It meant weekly counseling sessions and a prescription of antidepressants. Daniel willingly took the pills, but he felt that his appointments weren't getting anywhere. However, to be cleared for duty he was required to keep up with it.

At last, Daniel was able to return to work, though he was forbidden to drive himself. Chaney picked him up at his apartment, and stayed at Daniel's side in the locker room.

Daniel got his first moment where life wasn't a weighty gray, when he caught himself reaching for the shoulder buttons that weren't needed to opened.

"You alright?" Chaney asked, stopping everything to watch Daniel.

"Yeah," Daniel replied, feeling confused, but found himself smiling. "Just I get to take my shirt off normal."

"That's good," Chaney grinned with him, and patted Daniel's upper arm rather than his shoulder.

Daniel Yi's uniform shirts still had the buttons, but he took his time embracing the fact he didn't need them to put it on. "Ahh, that's the way I like it."

"Hey," Chaney called up, "If you and your shirt need some time alone--."

"Chh!" Daniel laughed, then finished dressing and getting his equipment on.

He and Chaney went to the morning briefing to get their beat and zone assignment numbers. After being dismissed, Daniel heard a beep from his watch and slipped out the bottle in his slacks pocket.

"I'll get the car ready, buddy," Chaney said and slipped by him.

"Okay," Daniel answered and cracked the lid to shake out his morning dose.

He popped the pills into his mouth and walked out of the briefing room to a nearby drinking fountain.

"Doin' okay there?" the watch sergeant asked.

"Yeah," Daniel replied and nodded quickly. "Ready to get back at it."

Daniel went down to the garage, where the car waited with Chaney inside. They headed out to patrol, when getting a Signal Eleven out to Norwood's east side.

Arriving on-scene to a house, Chaney and Yi got out. From the signal, Yi knew to look for signs of trespassers prowling the yard of the house they approached. However, nothing stood out when Yi and Chaney got to the door.

"Cincinnati Police," Chaney announced and gave the door a hard rap.

Nothing.

Daniel's right hand reached up to grab his belt next to his firearm holster. "What do you think?"

Chaney knocked again. "Cincinnati Police. Do you need assistance?"

"Want me to go around to the back yard?" Yi asked.

"No, I got it," Chaney answered and started off to the left of the house.

Daniel kept knocking and calling to whoever was in the house. "Police. We had a report of a problem. Do you need any help?"

Out of the blue, Daniel felt like his shoulders were on fire. He dropped into a heap, because the sense was no exaggeration. Fearing to look, Daniel checked his right shoulder and then his left to discover there were no flames, which surprised him. It flared up more, causing him to moan with tears pouring out of his eyes squeezed shut.

"Looks like you're in trouble," a man's voice said behind him. "You need help?"

Struggling to shift in his curled up position at the door, Daniel jumped at seeing the mirrored shield just inches from his face. "Jesus!"

Fumbling for his sidearm, Daniel knew instantly that a polarized face shield meant a vampire was wearing it.

The vampire, also had on a thick jacket with hood, and backed up in haste with his gloved hands raised. "Fuck me! I'm sorry, officer! It's cool man!"

"Fuck're you doin' here?" It came out of Daniel in a sob.

"Saw 'ya doubled over in front of my door and was gonna check on you," the vampire answered, with no facial expression visible to correlate with intent. "I wasn't gonna do anything, I swear."

"Hey there!" Chaney called from the right side of the house, his weapon out and drawn. "Back away. Three more steps, and keep your hands over your head."

"It's like the fuckin' National Guard all over again," the vampire muttered, but did as he was told.

"What're you doin' here?" Chaney demanded.

"It's my house," the vampire answered, "I live here."

"You have a deed on this place?" Chaney pressed on.

"Not on me," the vampire asked, "But if you'll let me, I can get it."

"No, stay right there," Chaney countermanded, "What's your name?"

"Dale Groneck," the vampire replied.

"Are you shittin' me?" Daniel heaved out, able to focus on talking again.

"Dale Groneck," he repeated, and added, "I got my ID right here."

He had sense enough not to reach for it, Daniel realized. He must've learned that during the federal occupation, when vampires were selected for extra screening.

"Alright, get it out, slowly," Chaney ordered and lowered his weapon.

Dale used only two fingers and had his wallet out, along with half his pocket liner by accident. "Here 'ya go, sir."

Chaney holstered his weapon and turned his left side toward Dale to take the wallet, and stepped back before opening it, and then handed it back. "Okay, Mr. Groneck. We got a call about prowlers on this address around half an hour ago."

"Shit," Dale replied, and shrugged. "I ain't called 911. Must've been one of my neighbors. I don't normally leave during the day, so maybe they thought it was me. I can still produce my house deed if you want."

Daniel envisioned a scenario of Dale luring them both inside and attacking them right there. "Chaney just check his information on the MDT. I'll keep an eye on him."

"You sure?" Chaney asked, visibly concerned.

"Yeah," Daniel affirmed, and stood up carefully and then placed his hand on his sidearm grip with a resolute nod.

"Your ID again, Dale," Chaney ordered.

This time, Dale was allowed to get his ID out of his wallet himself, and he handed it over without argument. Daniel Yi knew there'd been a few raids by SWAT to deal with Open Feeders, and apparently, word spread to other vampires. In the following months, vampires became much more cooperative, and followed instructions that officers had no legal right to issue.

Chaney went back to the car. He got in to start typing what he read off the ID into the Mobile Data Terminal. After a moment, Daniel saw with angelic clarity Chaney's expression relax before he came back.

Chaney handed Dale back his ID without comment. Daniel picked his steps back to the car with Chaney positioning himself between Daniel and the vampire, Dale Groneck.

By the time Daniel got into the front passenger seat the pain was gone entirely, but he was covered in beaded sweat was all over. "Goddamn!"

"What the hell was that?" Chaney's beta wolf demeanor crept into his voice.

Shaking his head, Daniel answered, "Don't have a clue, but it fuckin' sucked!"

"You sure you wanna complete your shift?" Chaney asked, "I can drive you back home or to a hospital."

"Nah," Daniel refused, and waved forward. "Let's just get back on it."

Chaney pulled his radio handset down from his shoulder. "Dispatch, Code Four on Signal Eleven."

"You sure?" came back over the radio. "The caller seemed pretty adamant."

"Yeah, just the nightcrawler who lives there, one Dale Groneck," Chaney explained, "He left his house in the day, so maybe they just panicked."

"Copy that. Dispatch out."

The rest of the shift passed by with only other tense moment at an auto accident scene. However, all Daniel had to do was direct traffic while the Norwood Fire Department handled the victim extraction from one car. Daniel watched another angel among the firefighters, and heard the name Maddy that the angel turned around in response.

At shift's end, Daniel was back in the locker room changing back to his normal clothes. However, he realized Chaney was staring at his shoulder.

"What?" Daniel asked.

Chaney pointed. "Can I check something here?"

"Yeah," Daniel permitted. "Is it swollen?"

"No," Chaney replied, and pressed on the exact spot where Daniel's right wing used to be.

There was a bump. When Daniel reached to his other shoulder he felt another that seemed to be a mirror image of it. Right away he was sure what it was, because he remembered the first time he noticed them in his home bathroom one night before getting into the shower.

"You know," Chaney began, "I'm no expert on this, but it looks like they're comin' back. You should have them looked at."

Daniel became still and looked down. Wanting to be upset that his wings appeared to be regenerating, he instead was conflicted.


End file.
